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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

I wasn't sure if this meal would be good or a Greek tragedy. Fortunately, it turned out excellent.

I daydream about food on the way home from work most evenings. I think about what ingredients I have at home, things I've seen or cooked before, and just let the thoughts collide. Tonight my thoughts centered around a pork tenderloin that I had thawed out.

I thought about Chris Lilly's Pork Tenderloin Pinwheels that I have made before, stuffed with bacon, rolled in pecans and brushed with a mustard sauce. But the feta and fresh spinach I had at home made me think more along Greek lines. Here's what I came up with.Nibble Me This Greek Pork Pinwheels

InstructionsWhisk together all of the marinade ingredients. Reserve 1/4 cup of the marinade for the Greek rice.

Slice the tenderloin lengthwise into about 5-6 slices, about 1/4" thick each as pictured.TIP: First, put the tenderloin into the freezer for about 30 minutes to partially freeze it. Slices much easier. Second, most tenderloins have a "flat side" due to being packaged two to a pack. Use that flat side as a solid base.

Top each slice with layers of spinach, feta, and sun dried tomatoes. Drizzle some of the marinade on top.Carefully (i.e. make a hell of a mess trying to keep it all together) roll up each slice from one end to the other and secure with a toothpick.Place the pinwheels in a small casserole and apply remaining marinade. Let sit for 1-2 hours.

Prepare your grill for a direct heat cook at 375f. On the Big Green Egg, I had plain lump charcoal burning with no wood and I used a raised grid extender. That's about 8 inches from the fire so that would be the top rack on most other grills.TIP: The oily marinade will cause flare ups so keep your grill lid closed to control the flow of oxygen.

Grill the pinwheels for 8 minutes a side.

We were very pleased with this. They weren't very photogenic but the pork was tender and packed with flavor thanks to the marinade from inside and out.For a side dish, I made this Greek Tomato Pilaf and added the reserved 1/4 cup of marinade at the point you add the dry rice to the saute. I give that recipe two thumbs up too.

30 comments:

Chris, these are gorgeous and would be a terrific for a dinner party. We don't have a grill where we are right now, but I'm bookmarking this to prepare when we return home. We have a friend who's of Greek heritage and this would be a perfect surprise to serve him. I do believe he'll be impressed.

"Make a hell of a mess trying to keep it all together" - LOL! That sounds like me in the kitchen:D I think I'm kinda of messy cook.

I've only seen pork tenderloin sliced into medallions. You have opened my eyes to a whole new method of slicing pork. Thanks for the introduction to pork pinwheels. I see them in the very near future:D

Wow! I'm all over this one! Have written my shopping list and as soon as I hit post comment I'll be on my way to Safeway to grab what I need to make this...you read my mind/dreams...a Greek dinner that isn't lamb - drooling already!

I LOVE this idea! It looks delicious with these ingredients and I can see doing it with other combos according to MY fridge contents! Fun to hear that you daydream about food on the way home. That's exactly what I do, but I think your daydreams are better than mine. Keep dreaming and sharing!

Now you are speaking to my inner Greek woman. Reading the ingredients and looking at the pictures takes to me a warm summer evening eating out on the patio, the grill still smoking in the background.... Maybe a nice beer and some feta and pita on the side...oh! and some tomatoes and onions simply dressed with salt, pepper and olive oil!

That looks and sounds great! We did a pork tenderloin Mutumbre once- stuffed with cheese strips, sausage strips, onion and bell pepper strips..when cooked then cut into disks- it looked like a church window cookie!

Have you actually tried them with red wine vinegar, rather than the fig balsamic. That's a pretty drastic change from sweet to vinegary! I'd imagine it would pull the recipe in another direction entirely.